Shortage of elders for school trips
Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik teaching traditional skills and seeking to improve attendance
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Monday, June 27, 2016
KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
The battle for better attendance continued, while traditional learning and a balanced literacy approach improved as the school year came to end at Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik (MUI) in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.
MUI had traditional classes in Grade 7 and Grade 8 this year, which had students working with elders to produce traditional clothing.
The school also had an elder in shop class teaching traditional tool making.
MUI principal Jesse Payne said regular shop class instructor Kyle Johnston is quite immersed in Inuit culture, and also does a fair amount of culturally-based work.
He said there was also cultural programming through aulajaaqtut and Inuktitut at MUI.
"We did get some land trips in this year, but not as many as we've had in the past," said Payne. "One of the things with land trips is you need elders who know how to do it, and there's not as many as there used to be, so that's been a struggle.
"We invited elders to attend the Calm Air Christmas feast we hosted this year, and we had elder teas held through out home economics class."
Like most Kivalliq schools, staff at MUI continue to encourage students to attend on a more regular basis.
MUI's attendance started the school year in the 80s and finished in the 70s.
Payne said while that does represent good attendance, he'd like to see it a lot higher.
He said MUI has adopted a number of initiatives to bring more students in, including regular phone calls to students at home to encourage them to come to school.
"A lot of our teachers were really good to call homes and check on students this year.
"Also, our school/community counsellor touches base with parents on a regular basis when students are not attending.
"And we did see a significant improvement in the number of students who attended our student-staff challenges this year."
Payne said he was quite pleased with parent attendance this year.
He said the anchor parent-teacher interviews that take place around March were well attended this year.
"Our orientation sessions for students going from Grade 6 to Grade 7, and from Grade 9 to Grade 10, were also well attended this year.
"That was something we were very pleased to see, and we thank the parents for showing the interest to be a part of that.
"We are getting students to come on a more regular basis, but we'd like more outreach for those who are non-attenders.
"So, while we are having some success bringing students back in, it's still a struggle, and we have to keep coming up with different ideas and unique ways to bring students back."
MUI started the year with a student body of about 315 and finished at about 270.
The school has about 28 to 30 potential graduates this year.
Payne said all things considered, he sees the year as a successful one at MUI.
He said teachers continue to see positive results from the balanced literacy approach to writing, reading and word work.
"We've done a lot of work around literacy at MUI and we're seeing some good results in that area.
"I'm excited about it because I see results.
"I see kids whose reading is really improving and that's going to be a big plus for us.
"And it's going to make a big difference for kids who are moving on and being promoted along their grades."
